Morrow takes a tough time a little better this time around

Reliever Brandon Morrow had just about as bad a time of it as a pitcher can have Monday against the Chicago Cubs.

He was ripped for a triple, and a double, then went wild, allowing three consecutive walks in the eighth inning. He gave up four runs, two of them scoring after he was out of the game.

Morrow might have taken it harder a year ago when he was trying to impress enough to stick around, but he said he was able to laugh about that kind of performance this time around. After all, he’s not trying to make the team; he’s trying to get ready for the season.

”That was strange,” he said. ”My release point was all over the place. I felt different on every single pitch. But I think it will be a one-time thing.

”This time it just didn’t happen for me. It seems like I missed with 12 consecutive pitches.”

Morrow was mostly a one-inning pitcher last year, but this time around, McLaren wants him to be ready to go two innings, as needed, although the manager still envisions Morrow as most an eighth-inning pitcher.

”I’m ready to do that,” said Morrow, who stretched out his arm by making seven starts in Venezuela this winter. ”I’ll be OK if that’s what he wants to do.”

Morrow pitched two innings or more eight times as a rookie and three innings or more twice.

Elsewhere with the Mariners:

–Second baseman Willie Bloomquist suffered a mild quad injury while starting a double play in the fourth inning against the Rockies Tuesday. He came out of the game at inning’s end. ”It’s a little right, not a big deal,” he said. ”I’m trying to be smart about it and take one day (off) to make sure it doesn’t turn into one month.”

–Starter Felix Hernandez’s agents and the Mariners have discussed a multi-year contract for the 21-year-old, but Hernandez said it’s no big deal. ”If it happens, it happens,” he said. ”It’s not about the money; the money will be there. I just want to stay healthy and pitch good.” The Mariners are thought to want to strike a deal sometime in the next month or so to make sure they never have to go to salary arbitration with last year’s opening day starter.

–Manager John McLaren said most of the Mariner pitchers were going through ”dead arm stage” that is typical for pitchers in spring training. ”With some guys you can almost time it,” the manager said. He singled out Morrow as one of those so afflicted.

–Seattle will start having regulars routinely play in back to back game in the coming week as the build up to the March 31 opener against Texas grows.

–The Mariners likely will have their first round of roster cuts sometime later Wednesday or Thursday morning. Seattle has 57 players in camp and while other teams have been making cuts before this, the Mariners wanted to stay with their full complement of bodies until their three-game swing to Tucson, which ended Tuesday, was over.